The All-American Muscle Car

The birth of the muscle car, mid-sized cars with big engines making big horsepower, marked not only a revolution in performance—but also a revolution in marketing. For the first time ever, car manufacturers tailored their product to a youth audience. The genre thrived in the 60s and early 70s and was reborn in the 21st century. The All-American Muscle Car celebrates the fifty-year history of the breed through stunning modern and archival photography, and brilliant essays from today’s top muscle-car writers. Organized by themes, its chapters cover the introduction and early years of muscle; the cultural trends that made muscle cars so wildly popular; the pop culture that surrounded the cars in music, film, and television; and racing, both legal and illegal. Great rivalries are detailed—Camaro versus Mustang versus Firebird versus Challenger versus ‘Cuda, GTO versus Road Runner versus Super Bee versus Chevelle SS versus Buick Gran Sport versus Oldsmobile 4-4-2, and the like. The book also explores the illogical extremes at the end of the classic era, the Plymouth Superbirds, GTOJudges, LS6 Chevelles, Hemi ‘Cudas, W-30 Oldsmobiles, Ram Air IV Pontiacs, Stage I GSX Buicks, and 440/6 Road Runners; the dark years and the death of performance; the rebirth of the muscle car; and the modern interpretations of the breed including the new Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger.

Randy Leffingwell, MBI's best-selling author, brings a unique perspective to the subject of muscle cars. In addition to his impeccable research skills, Leffingwell lived through the tumultuous classic muscle car era. Leffingwell is the author of such best-selling titles as Porsche 911: Perfection by Design, Farmall: Eight Decades of Innovation, John Deere: A History of the Tractor, Corvette Fifty Years, and Mustang Forty Years. Darwin Holmstrom has written or co-written many books on motorcycling, including the best-selling Billy Lane Chop Fiction: It's Not a Motorcycle, Baby, It's a Chopper and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles. This is his first opportunity to write about the transportation subject he first fell in love with: muscle cars. Darwin lives in Crystal, Minnesota. David Newhardt is one of the best automobile photographers working today, with an artistic eye that views life in accord with a muscle car's sinuous lines and exaggerated curves. He is the author of such best-selling books as Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, and has provided photography for MBI's best-selling titles Corvette Fifty Years, Mustang Forty Years, Mopar Muscle, and Shelby Mustang: Racer for the Street. David lives in Pasadena, California.Colin Comer, respected authority on collector cars, is editor-at-large for Sports Car Market and American Car Collector magazines and a contributing editor for Road & Track magazine. Colin also regularly appears in such diverse publications as the New York Times, Business Week, USA Today, among others. Comer is the author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed books Million-Dollar Muscle Cars, The Complete Book of Shelby Automobiles, and Shelby Cobra Fifty Years. When not writing about cars, Colin is an avid vintage racer and pilot. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with wife Cana, daughter Remington, and a herd of dogs. Official Website: www.colincomer.com

Randy Leffingwell wrote his first book, American Muscle, in 1989 while still on staff at the Los Angeles Times. Since then, he has authored another 47 titles for Motorbooks and its sister publisher Voyageur Press covering subjects from sports cars to motorcycles to farm tractors. Leffingwell is considered one of the top Porsche historians working today, and he enjoys a close working relationship with Porsche AG. His Porsche titles include Porsche 911 50 Years, The Complete Book of Porsche 911, and Porsche Turbo. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.

The author of several books on muscle cars, Joe Oldham began his career in journalism in 1964 as a writer/editor for Magnum-Royal Publications, where he road-tested every muscle car for magazines such as Hi-Performance Cars, Speed & Supercar and Supercars Annual until 1976. He then spent the next thirty-two years at The Hearst Corporation, the last nineteen as editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics. He currently resides in La Quinta, California with his wife, Nina.

David Newhardt is one of the best automobile photographers working today and has provided photography for best-selling Motorbooks titles Muscle: America's Legendary Performance Cars, Corvette: Fifty Years, Mustang: Forty Years, Mopar Muscle: Fifty Years, and Shelby Mustang: Racer for the Street.

Darwin Holmstrom has written, co-written, or contributed to over thirty books on subjects ranging from motorcycles and muscle cars to Gibson Les Paul guitars, including Indian Motorcycles, GTO: Fifty Years, Let's Ride: Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcyclying,Top Muscle: The Rarest Cars from America's Fastest Decade, BMW Motorcycles, The Life Harley-Davidson, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles. Darwin is the senior editor for Motorbooks. Prior to that he served as Midwestern editor for Motorcyclist magazine.